IPL-2024: Lucknow Super Giants to take on Chennai Super Kings in Lucknow: LSG opt to bowl
Today, Lucknow Super Giants will take on Chennai Super Kings, at the Ekana Cricket Stadium in Lucknow. The match will start at 7.30 PM, IST. Lucknow Super Giants have won the toss and have opted to field.
Revival and continuance – those are the words that’ll underline the objectives of Lucknow Super Giants and Chennai Super Kings respectively as both teams gear up for the clash at the Ekana Stadium which will complete half their league stage journey. After a couple of losses, CSK regained traction thanks to their two back-to-back victories and are sitting pretty in the third position. Although LSG are still placed in the top half of the points table, a couple of losses have threatened to derail their campaign and they’ll be eager to get back on track knowing well that sides below them can catch up quickly if there are any more missteps.
LSG had a good track record of defending totals in the IPL, having never lost a game once they posted 160-plus. But that has changed now. Their inability to defend two 160-plus totals in successive games in an edition where the paradigm of totals has shifted totally, puts the spotlight on their batting. Quinton de Kock is due for runs, KL Rahul has got a couple of 30s but has failed to carry on, Marcus Stoinis hasn’t fired as well, and LSG’s No.3 woes have been eternal. While some of the other sides have been firing on all cylinders with their batting and setting new benchmarks, LSG have fallen behind and they need to bridge the gap soon.
On the other hand, CSK have sufficient depth, personnel and balance in their batting department, which is why they have won more often than they lost. Ruturaj Gaikwad at the top and Shivam Dube in the middle order have been consistently amongst the runs but they’ll be hoping for Rachin Ravindra and Ajinkya Rahane to get going as well. The bowling has also worked well for CSK. The pacemen with their variety have stood up, as has the spin department.
Squads:
Chennai Super Kings Squad: Rachin Ravindra, Ruturaj Gaikwad(c), Ajinkya Rahane, Daryl Mitchell, Shivam Dube, Ravindra Jadeja, Sameer Rizvi, MS Dhoni(w), Shardul Thakur, Tushar Deshpande, Mustafizur Rahman, Matheesha Pathirana, Nishant Sindhu, Moeen Ali, Mitchell Santner, Shaik Rasheed, Aravelly Avanish, Maheesh Theekshana, RS Hangargekar, Simarjeet Singh, Mukesh Choudhary, Prashant Solanki, Ajay Jadav Mandal, Richard Gleeson, Deepak Chahar
Lucknow Super Giants Squad: Quinton de Kock, KL Rahul(w/c), Deepak Hooda, Ayush Badoni, Marcus Stoinis, Nicholas Pooran, Krunal Pandya, Ravi Bishnoi, Mohsin Khan, Shamar Joseph, Yash Thakur, Manimaran Siddharth, Prerak Mankad, Arshad Khan, Krishnappa Gowtham, Amit Mishra, Kyle Mayers, Ashton Turner, Matt Henry, Naveen-ul-Haq, Devdutt Padikkal, Yudhvir Singh Charak, Mayank Yadav, Arshin Kulkarni
